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Parodies
The James Bond series of novels and films have been parodied numerous times in a number of different media including books, films, video games, and television shows. Most notable of all these parodies is the 1967 spoof Casino Royale, which was produced using the actual film rights purchased from Ian Fleming over a decade prior to its release. Novels and Comic Books *''The Book of Bond, or, Every Man His Own 007, sanctioned by Glidrose Productions, official Bond novel publishers, is a tongue-in-cheek guide to being a superspy. It was credited to "Lt.-Col. William 'Bill' Tanner" (a literary Fleming character), but was actually written by Kingsley Amis, who would later go on to write the Bond novel, ''Colonel Sun under another pseudonym, Robert Markham. The book's first hardcover edition had a false slipcover giving the title as The Bible to be Read as Literature (in the novel From Russia with Love, a fake book with this title hides a gun). *Michael K. Frith and Christopher B. Cerf of the Harvard Lampoon wrote Alligator, by "I*n Fl*m*ng" in 1962. Another "J*mes B*nd" story titled "Toadstool" appeared in a Playboy magazine parody published by the Lampoon. Rumour has it this has not been reprinted because of plagiarism issues (some sections are very close to Fleming.) The cover of Alligator parodies the Signet Books paperback covers used for the Fleming novels in the 1960s, including a short Fl*m*ng biography, and a bibliography of nonexistent B*nd novels: Lightningrod, For Tomorrow We Live, The Chigro of the Narcissus, Toadstool, Doctor Popocatapetl, From Berlin, Your Obedient Servant, Monsieur Butterfly, and Scuba Do - Or Die. *There exists a very short book titled Pussy L'amour and the Three Bears, starring James Bear. Although the book James Bond: The Legacy mentions it, one known copy exists, and belongs to the owner of Bondian.com. *Sol Weinstein wrote four novels about Israel Bond, Agent Oy-Oy-Seven, beginning in 1965: (i) Loxfinger, (ii) Matzohball, (iii) In the Secret Service of His Majesty – the Queen, and (iv) You Only Live Until You Die. As with the Harvard Lampoon volumes mentioned above, the covers of the American editions of the Israel Bond books were also based upon the cover designs Signet Books used for Fleming's Bond novels. *Cyril Connolly wrote the short story "Bond Strikes Camp", satirizing a homosexual relationship between M and Bond. *William Henley Knoles, under the pseudonym "Clyde Allison", wrote a 20-novel series between 1965 and 1968, about Agent 0008, a thinly disguised version of Bond. The books were more stories of action and softcore S&M, than legitimate satire, but their scarcity makes them sought-after Bond collectibles. The series included: (i)Our Man From Sadisto, (ii) Our Girl From Mephisto, (iii) Nautipuss, (iv) Go-Go Sadisto, (v) The Desdamona Affair, (vi) Gamefinger, (vii) Sadisto Royale, (viii) 0008 Meets Gnatman, (ix) For Your Sighs Only, (x) The Lust Bomb, (xi) The Merciless Mermaids, (xii) Mondo Sadisto, (xiii) 0008 Meets Modesta Blaze (also parodying comic strip heroine Modesty Blaise), (xiv) The Sex-Ray, (xv) Roburta The Conqueress, (xvi) From Rapture With Love, (xvii) The Ice Maiden, (xviii) The Sin Funnel, (xix) Platypussy, and (xx) The Desert Damsels. *An Agent 00004 appeared in the science fiction epic The Illuminatus! Trilogy by Robert Shea and Robert Anton Wilson, published in the early 1970s. This character, named Fission Chips, is a somewhat dim-witted Englishman working for British Intelligence, taking orders from a superior named "W." He is obsessed with an organization known as "B.U.G.G.E.R." which he might have completely fabricated. *Bridge experts Philip and Robert King wrote a collection of bridge game-related short stories titled Your Deal, Mr. Bond; the title story features 007. (This shouldn't be confused with the official Bond novel, No Deals, Mr. Bond by John Gardner. *Kim Newman's Anno Dracula novel Dracula Cha-Cha-Cha features a vampire agent of the Diogenes Club named "Hamish Bond". The segments of the novel featuring this character are filled with references to the James Bond novels and films, including chapters titled "On Her Majesty's Secret Service", "From Bavaria with Love", "Live and Let Die" and "The Living Daylights". Bond's archenemy is a vampiric Blofeld, (although there's a twist), and an alteration in his personality, towards the end, portrays the change from Sean Connery to Roger Moore. *Clive Cussler's novel Night Probe! has its hero Dirk Pitt alternately oppose and work with "Brian Shaw," a retired British Secret Service agent recalled to duty who had taken a pseudonym for protection from his many enemies. The book makes abundantly clear, explictly so in the two characters' final conversation, that "Shaw" is Bond. *The comic book series Planetary has a secret agent character named John Stone who closely resembles Bond, but has some similarities to Nick Fury Films * From Hong Kong With Love, 1975. Starring: Lois Maxwell, Bernard Lee, Clifton James. James Bond dies in the opening, and Her Majesty's Secret Service must replace him. Despite being an obscure parody, the film features many legitimate Bond film actors. Originally released as Bons Baisers de Hong Kong. *''In Like Flint'' and Our Man Flint, two mid–60s spy adventures starring James Coburn. In Like Flint sees the character of Derek Flint beating up a character who closely resembles Sean Connery's Bond. *Matt Helm movies, starring Dean Martin - The Silencers (1966), Murderers' Row (1966), The Ambushers (1967), The Wrecking Crew (1969). Although based upon a serious, ultra-violent series of novels by Donald Hamilton, it was decided to adapt Hamilton's novels as comedies rather than competing with the Bond series on its own turf. *''Se Tutte le Donne del Mondo'' (1966) - An Italian spoof of James Bond that has a similar plot to that of Moonraker, which was released 13 years later. *''From Beijing with Love, (1994), with and by Stephen Chow, stars a Chinese 007 wanna-be to search for a stolen dinosaur skull *Spy Hard, (1996) starring Leslie Nielsen, that has an opening making fun of the James Bond Openings, performed by "Weird Al" Yankovic. *Undercover Brother'' (2002) *''Johnny English'' (2003), starring Rowan Atkinson *''Cannonball Run, 1981. Roger Moore is a man believing himself to be both Roger Moore and James Bond, who participates in a madcap, cross-country, road race driving a gadget-laden Aston Martin DB5 similar to that driven by Sean Connery in ''Goldfinger. * The Dragon Lives Again, 1978. Starring: Alexander Grand. A Hong Kong movie featuring an undead Bruce Lee alongside characters such as Popeye, Dracula, and James Bond. Original title: La Resurrection du Dragon * Sean Bond Agent 0023 is a pornographic version of James Bond who appeared in Coldfinger and For Your Ass Only. * The animated film, Freddy (the) Frog, featured the title character as a reluctant secret agent "FRO7". *''OK Connery, 1967, also known as ''Operation Kid Brother or Operation Double 007. Starring: Neil Connery, Daniela Bianchi, Adolfo Celi, Bernard Lee, Anthony Dawson, Lois Maxwell. When MI6's top agent becomes unavailable, his lookalike younger brother is hired to thwart an evil organisation. Sean Connery's younger brother Neil stars in this Italian film designed to profit from the spy craze. * Tony Falcon Agent X44, The Filipino version of James Bond. * Agent 00-7-11 is a parody of James Bond in the film Ninja Academy. In the film 00711 gets his Licence to Kill temporarily revoked. In addition to the above, there have been literally hundreds of films made around the world parodying the spy film genre of the 1960s, if not directly parodying James Bond. One example is the 1966 film Modesty Blaise, which was more a parody of the spy genre than it was an adaptation of the comic strip. Austin Powers Austin Powers is a film series from comedian actor Mike Myers. Many of the characters throughout the series are parodies of Bond characters, including the main character, Austin Powers. In addition, the names of the films are also parodies of Bond novels and films. Films *''Austin Powers: International Man of Mystery'' *''Austin Powers: The Spy Who Shagged Me'' is an obvious parody of The Spy Who Loved Me. *''Austin Powers in Goldmember'' is a parody of Goldfinger. The title of the film led to legal action being taken by MGM, the distributors of the James Bond film franchise, that briefly led to the film's title being removed from promotional material and trailers. During the period when the film had no official title, it was unofficially being called Austin Powers: Never Say Member Again, a reference to the non-canon Bond film Never Say Never Again. The dispute was quickly resolved and the original film title remained. Although MGM most likely would have lost a court case against the makers of Goldmember (see: Parody copyright information), MGM did secure a spot for the trailer to 2002's Bond film Die Another Day in settlement. Characters * Ernst Stavro Blofeld, the head of S.P.E.C.T.R.E. and Bond's archenemy is parodied in all the Austin Powers films as Dr. Evil. Like Blofeld, Dr. Evil also wears either a white or a grey suit, and has a facial scar over his eye. Both characters also possess white Persian cats. Evil's cat, however, loses its hair due to a side-effect of the cryogenic freezing process which preserved Dr. Evil for 30 years. Dr. Evil is clearly a combination of Donald Pleasence's Blofeld as well as Dr. Julius No. In one scene of the first Austin Powers film, Dr. Evil even has a protective suit identical to one worn by Dr. Julius No in Dr. No. * Emilio Largo, the S.P.E.C.T.R.E. villain from Thunderball is parodied in all of the Austin Powers movies as "Number Two". Largo and Number Two are both played by an older gentleman wearing a black eyepatch, and are the Second-in-Command of their respective evil organizations. * Colonel Rosa Klebb in the Bond film From Russia with Love and Irma Bunt from On Her Majesty's Secret Service are said to be the prototypes of Frau Farbissina, a top villain in Dr. Evil's organization. The actresses who play Klebb and Farbissina are similar in appearance. * Basil Exposition, the head of Austin Power's organization is meant to be a parody of M. * Random Task, is identical to Goldfinger's henchman, Oddjob, except he throws a deadly shoe, instead of a bowler hat. * Alotta Fagina is a parody of the Bond girl Pussy Galore. * The character Goldmember, like Auric Goldfinger, also had a passion for gold that also included a golden gun similar to Goldfinger's and, later, Francisco Scaramanga. Television shows & episodes *''Get Smart'' television series *In the Inspector Gadget cartoon series, the villain, Dr. Claw, shares many characteristics with Ernst Stavro Blofeld, including a cat (Mad Cat) and an underground criminal network (M.A.D.). * The British comedian Russ Abbott's television series featured a character called Basildon Bond named after a brand of writing paper. Russ Abbot (outside link). * In the television series Clerks the villain, Leonardo Leonardo, has an assistant, Mr Plug, who is a parody of Goldfinger's assistant Oddjob. However, Plug is a publicist not a bodyguard. *A 1989 episode of the television series Alfred Hitchcock Presents, titled "Diamonds Aren't Forever", featured George Lazenby as a retired spy referred to only as "James ..." (the name is listed in the credits with the ellipsis included; characters are always interrupted before completing the name). The episode includes many subtle references to James Bond, implying that the character played by Lazenby might indeed be Bond. *An episode of The Simpsons, "You Only Move Twice", features the supervillain, Hank Scorpio. The James Bond analogue, "Mr. Bont", is based on Sean Connery's portrayal, but, unlike Bond, he is captured and killed, because Homer Simpson interferes with his attempted escape from captivity. This is not the only James Bond homage in The Simpsons, however—the "Chief Wiggum P.I." segment of "The Simpsons Spin-Off Showcase" episode borrows heavily from Live and Let Die, even duplicating certain shots. Also, in an alleged "deleted scene" from $pringfield from The Simpsons 138th Episode Spectacular clip show, Homer, working as a blackjack dealer, causes James Bond to lose to Blofeld, with Oddjob and Jaws as his henchmen, when Homer fails to take out the Joker card and a card for the "Rules for Draw and Stud Poker" out of a playing deck. In addition, an opening couch gag features Homer as Bond in the gun barrel sequence that opens the Bond films. The character Rainier Wolfcastle, an action movie actor, also regularly references Bond. *An episode of Star Trek: Deep Space Nine entitled "Our Man Bashir" shows that Dr. Julian Bashir has a holographic program in which he plays a 007-type "spy", "Bashir... Julian Bashir". The first time we see him running the program, is just prior to an emergency, when the transporters are knocked off line while the crew of a runabout are in the pattern buffers. Lt. Cmdr. Eddington orders the pattern information stored in the station's computers, and their physical appearances are stored in the holosuite computers. Bashir and Garak, who showed up uninvited, discover a character resembling Major Kira (and other crew show up as characters as well). To prevent deletion of their physical parameters, Bashir and Garak must keep the program running, avoid causing any of their deaths, and even let the villain win. 'Good guy' Bashir even helps the villain. A later episode of DS9 showed Bashir playing another installment of his spy holoprogram, but it too is interrupted when duty calls. *''The Man Called Flintstone'' was a popular 1966 film, based upon the animated television series The Flintstones, wherein Fred Flintstone is recruited for a spy mission. The Flintstones series itself also featured an episode parodying Goldfinger entitled "The Stonefinger Caper" which aired in 1965. *The Dangermouse cartoon series **Colonel K is clearly based on M **Baron Greenback is similar to Blofeld, most notably the white, hairy caterpillar in place of Blofeld's cat. *On the Garfield and Friends TV-series' sequence U.S. Acres, Orson Pig plays the Bondian alter-ego named Double-Oh-Orson. *The short-lived (and some what controversial) Stripperella had various elements paroding James Bond, including Stripperella being Agent 0069. *The opening sequence for the Read or Die OVA series essentially ressembles a typical Bond opening credits. *The 1995 Lupin III TV special The Pursuit of Harimao's Treasure has a character named Lord Archer that is said to be the "inspiration" for the James Bond character. While the name James Bond is never said outright, the original Japanese soundtrack makes several references to him being "007." *In the Disney animated series Recess, in the episode "Parents' night", Spinelli's parents are mentioned to be secret agents when her dad's code name is Agent 006,a digit close to 007. However, it was never mentioned again in series. (Courtesy of TV.com) Video games *No One Lives Forever — Released in 2000 by Monolith Productions, the game is a cross between the James Bond series and Austin Powers. It features a female secret agent, Cate Archer, that takes place during the 1960's. The game is similarly titled to John Gardner's Bond novel, Nobody Lives For Ever. **No One Lives Forever A Spy In H.A.R.M.'s Way — is the 2002 sequel to No One Lives Forever * The computer game, Red Alert, features a nameless spy unit dressed in a tuxedo, which sounds suspiciously like Sean Connery. *James Pond'' is a series of video games that parody Bond movies. Levels in a James Pond are also parodied with titles like A View to a Spill and Leak and Let Die. *''Spy Muppets: License to C.R.O.A.K.'' is a video game featuring Muppet characters directly spoofing James Bond characters, plots and titles. *In Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, the character Major Zero is a fan of James Bond as revealed during a codec conversation. Some fans also claim that the game's theme song, the aptly-named Snake Eater somehow sounds similar to Bond theme songs. *In the expantion pack to 'Grand Theft Auto', Grand Theft Auto: London 1969, there is a car called the 'James Bomb' which looks strangely like an Austin Martin. Imitations There have also been numerous films that have attempted to use the James Bond formula. Some films that have been made have also used the character of James Bond unofficially. *xXx - borrows heavily from James Bond and includes gadgets and so forth that are similar to some found in a Bond film. Its sequel, XXX: State of the Union, was directed by Lee Tamahori, who had previously directed Die Another Day. * James Bond 777, 1971. Starring: Ghattamaneni Krishna. A black-and-white, Indian-made 007 movie, starring a pompadoured, moustachioed James Bond. *''The Green Jade Mahjongg, 1980s. Bond actor unknown. A very obscure, Asian Bond movie. The actor playing James Bond is American. *Conceal When You Speak, 1981. Aldo Maccione plays Giacomo ("James" in Italian), who dreams that he is James Bond. Original title: ''Tais Toi Quand Tu Parles *''Our Man From Bond Street, 1984. The third movie in the ''Mad Mission series, also known as Aces Go Places. A Bond look-alike appears, played by Sean Connery's younger brother Neil, as does Oddjob (though not played by Harold Sakata), and Richard Kiel (though not as Jaws). Music *''Regular Urban Survivors'', a 1996 album by the British rock band Terrorvision featured sleeve artwork that was very reminiscent of spy movies in general, and Bond in particular. It featured a painted cover, depicting the band members in a montage of Bond-like poses, and included Tropical locales, a man rapelling from the underside of a Navy helicopter, and a car very close to an Aston Martin in appearance crashing off a mountaintop road. The album also featured production credits styled to look like movie credits, and mocked-up 'movie' stills of the band in numerous action-packed poses. The song titles and lyrics do not always continue the Bond theme, though Enteralterego, the first track, is based on a 'spy theme' type riff, and features lyrics about bombs and cutting differently coloured wires. A second song on the album, Bad Actress, was considered by some critics to sound like a typical Bond-theme, complete with string arrangements and a suitably bombastic climax. Category:James Bond